Storing At room temperature: keep popping corn in an airtight container (the kernels must retain their moisture, or else they won't pop).

Movie Popcorn

Until the 1930s, popcorn was not sold in movie theaters. To some owners, vending all concessions was an unnecessary nuisance because profits were negligible compared with the trouble and expense of cleaning up spilled popcorn and scattered boxes and sacks. Theater owners shifted their perspectives dramatically during the Depression, when popcorn's profit margin of almost 80 percent generated more income than did the box office sales.

During World War II, sugar and chocolate were rationed, and popcorn was the obvious alternative. Popcorn sales soared. By 1945, almost half of the popcorn grown in America was consumed in theaters. By 1949, surveys showed that 86 percent of the movie theaters in the United States sold popcorn, which six out of every ten patrons bought.